Game-changing acquisition to harness Comverge's demand response
leadership with Itron's expertise in smart connected networks and edge
intelligence
LIBERTY LAKE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI), a world-leading technology and services
company dedicated to the resourceful use of energy and water, announced
today that it has completed its previously
announced acquisition of privately held Comverge by purchasing its
parent company, Peak Holding Corp., for approximately $100 million. With
the acquisition, Itron strengthens its portfolio of grid solutions with
the industry's leading demand response offering while also paving the
way for game-changing distributed energy management applications using
Itron's OpenWay Riva™ IoT solution.
"We are excited to add Comverge's strong, healthy and growing business
and integrate Comverge and Itron's well-proven solutions to enable
distributed energy management," said Mark de Vere White, president of
Itron's Electricity business line. "The growing need for utilities to
meet energy efficiency regulations, enable customer choice in energy
management and better optimize the use of distributed energy resources
is driving a convergence between smart connected networks and demand
side solutions. Through this acquisition, we are helping our utility
customers address these trends to better facilitate grid performance and
reliability, reduce peak demand, drive customer engagement and save
energy."
Merging Comverge's solution with Itron's OpenWay Riva solution will
allow utilities to seamlessly connect with homes to improve operational
efficiency, and distribution and energy efficiency, while allowing
consumers to directly participate in managing their energy use. Taking
advantage of the real-time edge computing power of OpenWay Riva, the
joint solution will enable utilities to derive more operational benefit
from their demand response and distributed energy resources (DER)
through more reliable network communications and real-time measurement
and verification of load drop. In addition, it will give utilities
greater access to data and analytic power, allowing automated DER
dispatch decisions, as opposed to relying on grid operators to manually
make decisions. It will also help utilities with their grid planning
decisions by combining Itron's forecasting capabilities with data from
end-use devices, making the forecasting process even more accurate.
The combined solution will bring new data and real-time awareness that
promises to greatly enhance the consumer engagement experience. It will
allow price signals to be sent to consumers in real time and enable
demand charge management with real-time alerts and automated load
control. Imagine a solution that could learn a consumer's preferences
and willingness to tolerate higher temperatures in their home by
presenting cost versus comfort tradeoff settings and observing
interactions with the thermostat during load control events. The
possibilities for these new capabilities are plentiful.
"With this acquisition, Itron inherits a strong demand response business
with immense possibilities for growth while unlocking new opportunities
by combining our joint capabilities to create new distributed energy
management solutions that can seamlessly integrate into a comprehensive
smart grid," added de Vere White.
About Itron
Itron is a world-leading technology and services company dedicated to
the resourceful use of energy and water. We provide comprehensive
solutions that measure, manage and analyze energy and water. Our broad
product portfolio includes electricity, gas, water and thermal energy
measurement devices and control technology; communications systems;
software; as well as managed and consulting services. With thousands of
employees supporting nearly 8,000 customers in more than 100 countries,
Itron applies knowledge and technology to better manage energy and water
resources. Together, we can create a more resourceful world. Join us: www.itron.com.
Itron® and OpenWay® are registered trademarks of
Itron, Inc. All third-party trademarks are property of their respective
owners and any usage herein does not suggest or imply any relationship
between Itron and the third party unless expressly stated.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170601006257/en/
Itron, Inc.
Sharelynn Moore, 509-891-3524
Vice
President, Global Marketing and Public Affairs
sharelynn.moore@itron.com
Source: Itron, Inc.
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